Supply constraints plagued the Wireless LAN market in 1Q22, and would likely worsen in 2Q22 as a result of the China Covid lockdowns, according to a recently published report by Dell’Oro Group.
Several US-based wireless LAN manufacturers announced that backlogs approached ten-to-fifteen times higher than normal.
“Many enterprises have planned network upgrades and the popular connection is Wi-Fi. The trouble is getting it. Several manufacturers announced that components from second and third-tier suppliers became the bottleneck in 1Q22,” said Tam Dell’Oro, Founder, CEO and Wireless LAN Analyst. “Supply constraints have resulted in highly volatile quarterly performance vendor-to-vendor depending on whether or not they have all the components. For example, sales may be up 20 percent in one quarter and down 20 percent the next. Another item, which could potentially cause delays, that we are keeping our eye on are the contract negotiations between the west coast dockworkers union and the Maritime Association,” added Dell’Oro.
Additional highlights from the Wireless LAN 1Q22 Quarterly Report:
- Wi-Fi 6E sales accelerated during the quarter as more manufacturers launched products and Extreme Networks and HPE Aruba expanded their portfolios. The adoption of Wi-Fi 6E (meaning the percent of total Indoor unit shipments as of the third quarter of the technology shipping) is tracking below the rates of the previous two technologies, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 5 Wave 2. However, it is still early days and three quarters do not make a trend.
- For the fourth consecutive quarter, the Retail vertical continued to rank among the top-performing verticals.
